Given The Chance
by JeichanHaka
Summary: That day when he smiled and his eyes lit with exuberance, J.L felt her breath catch and her heart thump, but he was out of her league. Nine years later, she meets him again as a fellow agent….
1. Prologue

**Given the Chance**

_Summary: That day when he smiled and his eyes lit with exuberance, J.L Dyster felt her breath catch and her heart thump, but he was out of her league. 9 years later, she meets him again as a fellow agent…._

 **Prologue:** (1yr before s1 criminal minds)

Her tired blue eyes furtively glanced at the young man sitting at the corner table. His hair somewhere between raw sienna and ocher in color, depending on the lighting. Same with his eyes, those bright orbs could change from hazel to almost deep brown. All based on the amount and kind of light.

Though, she had learned after being intrigued enough to look it up, all eye color was dependent on light. It had surprised her a bit, but then she recalled that all colors were dependent on the absorption and refraction of light it wasn't so unusual.

The young man across the cafe was however. J.L recalled the day she first saw him, he'd just gotten his coffee and went to sit down when someone commented on a book or something. Whatever it was, it had immediately piqued the man's interest and he started talking enthusiastically about the subject with the original commenter. Within seconds it became evident that the sienna-ocher haired man both had extensive knowledge about the subject, but also a lack of an off-switch.

Being on her break, she'd eavesdropped on his spiel, fascinated by the subject. She hated it when the people he was talking to cut him off, clearly annoyed by his uninvited intrusion. The temptation to ask the stranger as he turned away, dejected, to sit and talk with her had been strong. But she couldn't bring herself to speak. All she could do was watch him sit at a corner table and mull over his coffee.

His brow was so deeply furrowed that she understood he didn't know what he'd done wrong. But he felt terrible nonetheless. And though he had made a mistake in his socializing, he didn't deserve the comments the couple that he'd interrupted made. She had felt so angry at the two that when her break ended and the two ordered more coffee to go, she'd deliberately made her handwriting illegible. It was impossible to tell which was the decaf caramel latte and which was the regular latte based on her labeling.

She wondered if the two had ever figured out which was which.

J.L watched the young man sigh, a huge frown on his face. He had been sitting at the table for forty-five minutes, completely ignoring his coffee. Something clearly was bothering him.

"Hey, mousey, it's getting busy, so why don't you start asking customers that have been sitting awhile to move so new customers can sit?" J.L's coworker and BFF asked, nodding her head specifically at the young man's table. Though they didn't enforce the thirty minute time limit when the cafe was empty, they did during the morning rush. Or whenever there wasn't enough seats.

"…all right." J.L mumbled, her heart thumping with each step towards the said table. Her face betrayed nothing though, and was as placid as her eyes, when she spoke to the young man. "I'm sorry, sir, but there are people waiting to sit. If you could finish up, it'll be greatly appreciated."

The man's head jerked back, thrown off by her sudden interruption. His eyes widened as he noticed how crowded the cafe and how long the line were. He grimaced, completely contrite. "I'm sorry, I must've been lost in thought…."

"It's okay." J.L replied, her stomach flip-flopping just being so close to him. She turned to head back to the counter, but quickly turned back. Her curiosity overpowered her anxiety and she asked: "What's stressing you? Or was something wrong with the coffee? You barely sipped any."

"Oh. No, the coffee's fine. It's just….I had a fitness test yesterday, and I failed it." The man frowned sadly, abashed. "I've never been good at any physical activity, but I thought I would've at least got the minimum requirement to pass." He pulled a face and sighed. "….Perhaps me joining the Bureau is not possible. If I can't pass the physical requirements…."

J.L's lips twitched and her heart quickened when the man's soft hazel eyes gazed up at her. He seemed so disappointed at himself and miserable that her heart twinged, she even mumbled a quiet 'I'm sorry.'

The next moment she hurried back towards the cafe counter, her brain thinking only about cheering the man up. Yet how? Cheerful conversation wasn't her forte, nor did reassuring someone come naturally for her. Her brain was still whirling even as her eyes lit upon the brewing coffee. The idea occurred to her a split second before she acted on it, whipping up a special mocha latte with whip cream and cinnamon.

"Mousey? What…?" Her friend started to ask, but J.L ignored her and instead turned back to the man's table holding the drink. Her eyes widened slightly as she noted he'd already left his seat.

 _'Where….'_ J.L searched around with her eyes, her heart twinging at the thought of missing him. Her breath caught when she noticed him just outside the cafe, taking a sip of his cooled and bitter coffee. She chuckled at the face he made at the taste, almost like a child's disappointment when a food wasn't as sweet as expected.

She hurried outside just as the man tossed out the coffee, even more disappointed.

"Hey." She called, approaching the man nervously. Her heart felt ready to explode as she repeated her call and he turned back to her. His eyes studied her confused, even more so as she held out the latte. "You shouldn't give up. Not until you exhausted all possibilities…." She fumbled over the rest of her words, suddenly self-conscious of giving advice derived from anime as though it could so easily apply to real life. The cliche word 'ganbatte' had almost fallen from her lips before she checked herself. Her neck and chest grew hot with embarrassment, though her face betrayed nothing. "Here, for you…."

"Thank you. I…." The man took the latte, thrown off by the unexpected gesture coupled with the unexpressiveness of J.L's face. His eyes searched the woman's face, his brow knitted at the near deadpan look on her face.

Not knowing what else to say, he took a sip of the latte. The rich and soothing liquid kissed his tongue, its taste the perfect balance between strong coffee and sweet chocolate. The dollop of whip cream and cinnamon simply enhanced the deliciousness. For the first time that morning he smiled. A full tooth smile, delighted at the flavors invigorating his tastebuds.

J.L's heart stopped at sight of that smile, the next moment thumping twice as loudly in her chest. She felt mesmerized by that smile, her neck burning with abashment as she realized he was staring at her and she at him.

"I need to get back to work." She said and quickly reentered the cafe, not once looking back at the young man.

"Well, that was something, mousey." Her co-worker teased her with a smile, intrigued by her action. "If this was an anime that would mark the start of a romance…."

J.L blinked, giving her friend and the comment a blank stare though inside her heart thumped and her stomach tightened. She simply said they should get back to work, and ignored her co-worker's teasing smirk.


	2. Chapter 1

**Given the Chance**

 **Chapter 1:**

(A/N: Takes place during season 8)

 **Nine Years Later:**

The bullpen was no more or less different than any other she'd been in before. Desks, chairs, people. And noise, lots of noise. Not anything distinct really, but rather a slew of sounds that merged together into a drumming drone. She bit her lip, her eyes scanning the area for someone familiar - the section chief said she'd be here this morning.

J.L chewed on her inner cheek, her stomach twitching under the onslaught of her thoughts. This was the Behavioral Analysis Unit, where some of the best agents worked. It was impossible not to feel overwhelmed. She'd joined the FBI six years ago, and had worked her way through the ranks, slow but steadily. It felt surreal to be standing here, she'd never stood out through her years as an agent - at least she didn't think she had - yet the director himself had recommended her transfer here.

"There's a new transfer to the team? Where did you hear that?"

"I, uh, overheard some tidbits while I was walking by her office, and it made me curious, since she didn't sound happy. So I, um, looked into it, and..."

J.L stepped quietly out of the way of the agents just entering the bullpen. Her sky-blue eyes roamed over them, taking in their appearance without comment, while her mind placed them as members of the team she was joining. Based on the conversation.

'Loud.' She watched the first two walk by without noticing her - though people seldom did notice her. A fact that made the director's notice more surreal. It was sad, but made life a lot easier, not to be noticed.

Glancing back towards the offices up on the floor-alcove overlooking the bullpen, J.L waited. Her brain filled with ideas and noise that she attempted to get under order by focusing on locating the section chief. Her eyes kept straying towards the other agents, picking up on their body-language and her ears deciphering their conversations.

She backed a step, instinctively distancing herself from the others.

"Oh!" J.L piped when she backed into an agent entering the area. She blinked, turning around to offer a quiet apology. "I'm sorr..."

"It's all right." The other agent replied with a small, polite smile. He paused a second, his hazel gaze roaming over J.L's face. The next moment his smile grew, and he seemed about to say something.

"Agent Dyster," Section chief Strauss called out, drawing J.L's attention away from the hazel-eyed, raw-sienna haired man. "Let's talk in my office."

"All right, ma'am." J.L replied and scurried forward, her heart thumping in her chest. Her neck pinked slightly as the man's face and voice lingered in her thoughts. _'He's...'_

x

Reid's hazel eyes followed the woman heading towards Strauss' office, his eidetic memory quickly placing where he saw her before. Nine years ago, at a cafe he used to frequent before it closed. Though he'd seen her often there, since she was an employee at that cafe, he most readily recalled the last day he'd seen her.

The day after he'd failed his FBI fitness tests and before the Bureau granted him waivers for the tests. He had felt miserable that day, but then she had given him a free latte to cheer him up. It'd been one of the most delicious ones he'd ever had and he happily drank the whole thing. He hadn't even cared about it potentially hurting his stomach, and it wasn't until hours later when his stomach hadn't reacted badly to it, that he realized she must have used a non-dairy milk.

He wondered for days how she knew he was sensitive to dairy. That cafe had been one with a section where customers could put in their own creamer and sugar, and he usually did likewise. Also, the few times he did order something other than an ordinary coffee, he generally got it with milk since he loved dairy despite his sensitivity to it.

"Ah-ah." A voice articulated behind Reid, drawing his attention. He turned around and faced his fellow team member. "So that's agent Dyster. Not quite what I had imagined."

"Oh, Blake, hi. How was your weekend?" Reid greeted, placing his messenger bag down on his desk. He blinked, slightly confused by the look the older agent gave him. "What?"

Blake, having noticed Reid gazing after J. L Dyster for longer than most would consider acceptable unless one was interested, started to answer but stopped. She recalled the conversation she had with the genius agent during their investigation into an unsub who was performing needless amputations. It was obvious that he already had someone he liked. So, it was possible her initial deduction into why Reid stared after the new agent was off.

"...My weekend was fine. Enjoyable." Blake replied, about to ask Reid about his weekend when they were interrupted.

0

J. L sat in front of Strauss' desk, her face betraying none of her thoughts. It wasn't intentional, she just always been one of those people whose faces seldom expressed emotions. At least at a level noticeable to most others.

"So..." Strauss paused, contemplating the agent sitting across from her. "The director thinks highly of you. He's requested - really insisted - on your transfer to the BAU. And to be put on one of the unit's best teams."

J. L listened quietly, her hands folded on her lap. In the background she could hear the ticking of the wall clock, and counted the seconds that passed. "I didn't ask for this transfer."

"I know. The director made that clear when he and I spoke. As did the head of your team, Special Agent Daniels. He actually fought to keep you on his team." Strauss articulated, her face showing glimpses of doubt, concern, and intrigue. She nodded to herself, at a silent thought. She knew agent Daniels, had met him before and worked on a case together years ago. Knowing what she did about him gave her an inkling why J. L had been transferred.

Even more so when she discovered J. L Dyster had just achieved Supervisory Special Agent rank while Daniels was still just Special Agent rank.

"Ma'am, I don't want to be a bother. If you want to transfer me somewhere else, I'll com..."

"No." Strauss shook her head, frowning. "I've already approved your transfer to one of our best teams. On a trial basis only, mind you. Your performance on the team will be evaluated three months from now, at which point it'll be decided if you stay in the BAU or get transferred to a different section of the Bureau."

"Ah. Thank you." J. L mumbled, the corners of her lips twitching very slightly. Her thoughts focused once again on the hazel eyed agent she'd bumped into in the bullpen.

"Well, you should go speak with SSA Hotchner and meet your new team."


End file.
